Bringing the outdoors to life
Searching eyes with a glint of curiosity stare back at you from a foggy grassland that your mind has almost instantly connected to Horton Plains. Nadeesha Deemantha’s depiction of a sambar sits among others in the JDA Perera Gallery at this year’s version of the annual wildlife art and photography exhibition by the Young Zoologists’ Association (YZA). Bringing with it a little bit of the outdoors, KIN Wild 2014 coloured the walls of the gallery last weekend.
For the 30 art enthusiasts who generally spend Sunday mornings at the art class YZA offered a change of scene while showcasing their accumulated skills. Nadeesha, 25 has long enjoyed whipping up paintings of misty landscape. Dividing his time in between his study of civil engineering at the Open University in Nawala and art he has been a part of these weekly workshops for about 5 years. “It has been a step-by- step process,” he feels in terms of developing skills, an enjoyable and rewarding one nonetheless.
Crouching monkeys and leopards elegantly sprawled out on branches were obviously common subjects among which Indu Jayasooriya’s art offered a different angle. Soft watercolours and colour pencils under her masterful manipulation showed pictures of a different aspect of wildlife- butterflies. Keeping in mind her subjects Indu says “I live in the geographic wet zone,” while striving to showcase them in their natural habitat. A part of the workshops since five years ago, she feels “Conservation starts with caring for common flora and fauna, that people see every day.”
Sujeewa Chandana
Gimesh Sedric
Isuru De Zoyza
Nadeesha
The YZA has been in the practice of putting a yearly exhibition together “since 1991” Sujeewa Chandana tells us. Currently one of the senior instructors at the art workshops, he has also been a vital part of the team that commenced these exhibitions, of which continuation is vital he feels. “We are the only place in Sri Lanka that teaches wildlife art free of charge.” While the area is common abroad, it isn’t the case in Sri Lanka he says, because these are not merely “art and fantasy-” the subject is always anatomically accurate and has to be placed in its proper habitat. Ranging from about 15-35 the participants of the weekly workshops are encouraged to study the animals they hope to etch out “even in terms of eating habits and behaviour.” Hoping the art inspires people to conserve and appreciate bio diversity he says even the artists by the end of a very short time become apt naturalists.
Isuru De Zoysa, also one of the instructors of the art workshop follows yet another offered by the YZA on wildlife photography. “We teach basic techniques,” to the aspiring wildlife photographers. Hoping they grasp the art and put their personal touch to it the students are generally thrown into the deep-end , we send them on field -trips to pick up the skill,” Isuru says, out of which one particular student came out with flying colours and a remarkable picture. Twenty year old Gimesh Sedric’s rendition of a blade of grass captured with the use of a torch has a captivating effect even among its more colourful neighbours on its display panel. “I took the picture at 11pm in a forest in Galle,” he smiles.
Broken into four segments- Aquatic life, Birds, Reptiles and Mammals Isuru explains that each segment organizes field trips that students take to sharpen their focus on the art. Feeling that there is a slight shift in interests from still, portraits of wildlife he says “the trend now is motion pictures” of which he too showcased a few pieces.
Shutterbug
To all our Shutterbug followers with the festive season almost upon us we look forward to receiving your images under the theme
‘What Christmas means to you’. Send your pictures to the mirrormagazine@gmail.com. The best heart warming image might just make it to the cover of the Magazine